China imposed restrictions on exporting two metals that are crucial to parts of the semiconductor, telecommunications and electric-vehicle industries in an escalation of the country’s tit-for-tat trade war on technology with the US and Europe.
Gallium and germanium, along with their chemical compounds, will be subject to export controls meant to protect Chinese national security starting Aug. 1, China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement Monday.
FaceApp is currently the most popular app in Google Plays store. The app allows users to edit their photos to make themselves appear older or younger. There are more than 100 million users after celebrities posted pictures, which used the app, on social media went viral. However the app has raised concerns over user privacy.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for the FBI and the FTC, the US consumer protection body, to “look into the national security & privacy risks” The Russian developed app uploads users photos to their own servers raising questions as to the use the company could make to the vast amounts of data they are amassing.
“FaceApp’s location in Russia raises questions regarding how and when the company provides access to the data of U.S. citizens to third parties, including potentially foreign governments,” the New York senator said in a letter to the FBI.
“It would be deeply troubling if the sensitive personal information of US citizens was provided to a hostile foreign power actively engaged in cyber hostilities against the United States,” he added.
Read More: France 24
Missouri’s Sen. Hawley has introduced legislation to protect university research being stolen by nations like China, Russia, and Iran. He has said that Universities have been long targeted by these nations in a bid to steal intellectual property and spy on research that has national security implications.
The legislation would require students to undergo screening before being allowed to participate in sensitive research.
Read More: The Daily Caller
The Chinese telecoms giant and 70 of its affiliates have been placed on an “Entity List”. The list bans companies from acquiring US technologies without the government’s approval.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the President backed the move saying, it was to “prevent American technology from being used by foreign owned entities in ways that potentially undermine U.S. national security or foreign policy interests.”
Earlier in the day the President signed an executive order banning US companies from using telecommunications technology from firms deemed to pose an national security risk.
Read More: France 24
Microsoft has entered the world of election security with its new Open Source software ElectionGuard. Security analysts have said it may take some time for the software to take on.
Microsoft CEO said the new software would help: “modernize all of the election infrastructure everywhere in the world.”
Read More: Breitbart
Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations
The 29-year-old source behind the biggest intelligence leak in the NSA’s history explains his motives, his uncertain future and why he never intended on hiding in the shadows.
The individual responsible for one of the most significant leaks in US political history is Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. Snowden has been working at the National Security Agency for the last four years as an employee of various outside contractors, including Booz Allen and Dell.
He is deeply worried about being spied on. He lines the door of his hotel room with pillows to prevent eavesdropping. He puts a large red hood over his head and laptop when entering his passwords to prevent any hidden cameras from detecting them.
Though that may sound like paranoia to some, Snowden has good reason for such fears. He worked in the US intelligence world for almost a decade. He knows that the biggest and most secretive surveillance organisation in America, the NSA, along with the most powerful government on the planet, is looking for him.
Over the next three years, he learned just how all-consuming the NSA’s surveillance activities were, claiming “they are intent on making every conversation and every form of behaviour in the world known to them”.
But he believed that the value of the internet, along with basic privacy, is being rapidly destroyed by ubiquitous surveillance. “I don’t see myself as a hero,” he said, “because what I’m doing is self-interested: I don’t want to live in a world where there’s no privacy and therefore no room for intellectual exploration and creativity.”
Once he reached the conclusion that the NSA’s surveillance net would soon be irrevocable, he said it was just a matter of time before he chose to act. “What they’re doing” poses “an existential threat to democracy”, he said.
“The government has granted itself power it is not entitled to. There is no public oversight. The result is people like myself have the latitude to go further than they are allowed to,” he said.
He lay, propped up against pillows, watching CNN’s Wolf Blitzer ask a discussion panel about government intrusion if they had any idea who the leaker was. From 8,000 miles away, the leaker looked on impassively, not even indulging in a wry smile.
It has now emerged the government has been mining data from the internet as well as phone data from Verizon. Leaked documents appear to show that a government spying program, called Prism, has been in place for years. Prism has allegedly allowed access to the the US and UK security services to the servers of the biggest internet companies: Google, Apple, Skype, Microsoft, YouTube, and Facebook.
However the internet companies in question have denied the claims. Google has issued a statement, “We have not joined any program that would give the U.S. government – or any other government – direct access to our servers.
“Indeed, the U.S. government does not have direct access or a “back door” to the information stored in our data centres. We had not heard of a program called PRISM until yesterday.
“Any suggestion that Google is disclosing information about our users’ Internet activity on such a scale is completely false.
“We provide user data to governments only in accordance with the law. Our legal team reviews each and every request, and frequently pushes back when requests are overly broad or don’t follow the correct process.
“Press reports that suggest that Google is providing open-ended access to our users’ data are false, period.”
Facebook and Apple have also denied knowledge of the Prism program.
Read More: The Telegraph
Why do you need PGP?
by Phil Zimmermann
It’s personal. It’s private. And it’s no one’s business but yours. You may be planning a political campaign, discussing your taxes, or having an illicit affair. Or you may be doing something that you feel shouldn’t be illegal, but is. Whatever it is, you don’t want your private electronic mail (E-mail) or confidential documents read by anyone else. There’s nothing wrong with asserting your privacy. Privacy is as apple-pie as the Constitution.
Perhaps you think your E-mail is legitimate enough that encryption is unwarranted. If you really are a law-abiding citizen with nothing to hide, then why don’t you always send your paper mail on postcards? Why not submit to drug testing on demand? Why require a warrant for police searches of your house? Are you trying to hide something? You must be a subversive or a drug dealer if you hide your mail inside envelopes. Or maybe a paranoid nut. Do law-abiding citizens have any need to encrypt their E-mail?
What if everyone believed that law-abiding citizens should use postcards for their mail? If some brave soul tried to assert his privacy by using an envelope for his mail, it would draw suspicion. Perhaps the authorities would open his mail to see what he’s hiding. Fortunately, we don’t live in that kind of world, because everyone protects most of their mail with envelopes. So no one draws suspicion by asserting their privacy with an envelope. There’s safety in numbers. Analogously, it would be nice if everyone routinely used encryption for all their E-mail, innocent or not, so that no one drew suspicion by asserting their E-mail privacy with encryption. Think of it as a form of solidarity.
Today, if the Government wants to violate the privacy of ordinary citizens, it has to expend a certain amount of expense and labor to intercept and steam open and read paper mail, and listen to and possibly transcribe spoken telephone conversation. This kind of labor-intensive monitoring is not practical on a large scale. This is only done in important cases when it seems worthwhile.
More and more of our private communications are being routed through electronic channels. Electronic mail is gradually replacing conventional paper mail. E-mail messages are just too easy to intercept and scan for interesting keywords. This can be done easily, routinely, automatically, and undetectably on a grand scale. International cablegrams are already scanned this way on a large scale by the NSA.
We are moving toward a future when the nation will be crisscrossed with high capacity fiber optic data networks linking together all our increasingly ubiquitous personal computers. E-mail will be the norm for everyone, not the novelty it is today. The Government will protect our E-mail with Government-designed encryption protocols. Probably most people will acquiesce to that. But perhaps some people will prefer their own protective measures.
Senate Bill 266, a 1991 omnibus anti-crime bill, had an unsettling measure buried in it. If this non-binding resolution had become real law, it would have forced manufacturers of secure communications equipment to insert special trap doors in their products, so that the Government can read anyone’s encrypted messages. It reads:
“It is the sense of Congress that providers of electronic communications services and manufacturers of electronic communications service equipment shall insure that communications systems permit the Government to obtain the plain text contents of voice, data, and other communications when appropriately authorized by law.”
This measure was defeated after rigorous protest from civil libertarians and industry groups.
In 1992, the FBI Digital Telephony wiretap proposal was introduced to Congress. It would require all manufacturers of communications equipment to build in special remote wiretap ports that would enable the FBI to remotely wiretap all forms of electronic communication from FBI offices. Although it never attracted any sponsors in Congress in 1992 because of citizen opposition, it was reintroduced in 1994.
Most alarming of all is the White House’s bold new encryption policy initiative, under development at NSA since the start of the Bush administration, and unveiled April 16th, 1993. The centerpiece of this initiative is a Government-built encryption device, called the Clipper chip, containing a new classified NSA encryption algorithm. The Government is encouraging private industry to design it into all their secure communication products, like secure phones, secure FAX, etc. AT&T is now putting the Clipper into their secure voice products. The catch: At the time of manufacture, each Clipper chip will be loaded with its own unique key, and the Government gets to keep a copy, placed in escrow. Not to worry, though — the Government promises that they will use these keys to read your traffic only when duly authorized by law. Of course, to make Clipper completely effective, the next logical step would be to outlaw other forms of cryptography.
If privacy is outlawed, only outlaws will have privacy. Intelligence agencies have access to good cryptographic technology. So do the big arms and drug traffickers. So do defense contractors, oil companies, and other corporate giants. But ordinary people and grassroots political organizations mostly have not had access to affordable military grade public-key cryptographic technology. Until now.
PGP empowers people to take their privacy into their own hands. There’s a growing social need for it. That’s why I wrote it.
[ PGPi Home > Documentation > Why do you need PGP? > English ]
The TSA (Transportation Security Administration) actually approved a course teaching 25 illegal aliens how to fly planes from a school owned by… another illegal alien. 6 of them actually went on to acquire pilot’s licenses.
Discovery of this was made by local police on a routine traffic stop of the owner.
The illegal alien owner held two FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) pilot licenses, also known as FAA certificates.
Chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security, Rep. Mike Rogers finds this “… amazing. We have cancer patients, Iraq War veterans and Nobel Prize winners all forced to undergo rigorous security checks before getting on an airplane,…at the same time, ten years after 9/11, there are foreign nationals in the United States trained to fly just like Mohammed Atta and the other 9/11 hijackers did…”
For more on Homeland Security in the spirit style see prophet.tv and this teaching on Building the Warrior.
See for source article TSA Let 25 Illegal Aliens Attend Flight School Owned by Illegal Alien | CNSNews.com.
Rebels in Syria launched a brazen attack in Damascus this Wednesday. They released a bomb beside a high level meeting of security ministers killing three top regime officials which included Bashar Assad’s (the President) brother in law.
This may signal a change in what now looks like a civil war.
According to US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta the bloodshed is “rapidly spinning out of control” in Syria.
The officials killed (as reported by state run television) include: General Dawoud Rajha, General Assef Shawkat and General Hassan Turkmani.
For more news before it happens see prophet.tv.
see source article for more Rebel bombing kills top Syrian leaders, including Assad’s brother-in-law | Fox News.
Facebook have bought the facially recognition technology company Face.com. The Israeli based startup already had apps used on Facebook, which looks at users photos, tagging friends automatically.
This move suggests Facebook are seeking to further develop their facial recognition technology. With the vast amounts of personal data Facebook holds on it’s users, and the millions of photographs stored on their servers of users, and users families and friends; should we be concerned at Facebook further pursuing the capabilities of complying databases which would enable them to recognise you whenever, and wherever they see your image? Should we be concerned as to the security of such data?
For more information: CNET
President Barack Obama declined to take any questions from reporters about his controversial and significant decision to offer a de facto amnesty to at least 800,000 foreigners aged 15 to 30.
The announcement of the decision comes at a time of record unemployment among low-skilled workers, Hispanics and African-Americans.
For example, less than 50 percent of younger African-Americans have full-time jobs, according to data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Unemployment among Hispanics, youth and African-Americans rose in May, according to the BLS.
Obama justified his immigration decision by saying it is supported by business lobbies.
The president has often used this no-questions strategy when making important or poll-boosting announcements. (VIDEO: Reporter explains his Rose Garden exchange with Obama)
He declined to answer TheDC’s shouted question about the impact of his new policy on American workers. He also failed to answer another reporter’s question.
Obama’s deputy, Janet Napolitano, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, followed the same strategy Friday during a morning telephone press-conference. She gave a short statement and then left the conference while two officials provided not-for-attribution answers to selected reporters’ questions.
The reporters selected to offer questions included established media outlets and Spanish-language outlets. The chosen outlets included the Los Angeles Times, CNN, National Journal, Univision, The New York Times and La Prensa.
The selected reporters did not ask about the controversial impact on American workers.
American citizenship is a highly valued status, because it provides Americans with legal protections worldwide and gives them access to the shared wealth and sympathy of other Americans. Millions of illegal immigrants have risked their lives to win the prize for themselves and their children.
Obama has been under increased pressure from Hispanic lobbies to provide access to citizenship for up to 10 million illegal immigrants, whose arrival will boost the clout of ethnic lobbies.
In general, Democratic politicians have favored easy immigration, despite the impact it has on American workers, who provided the party’s base up until the 1980s.
via MUNRO: Obama ignores questions about controversial de facto amnesty decision | The Daily Caller.
It is common knowledge that governments scour the data sent over the internet on websites, social media, and email for potential threats. They do so by searching for the certain keywords, they believe highlight a potential threat. Unsurprisingly, the list includes words like: “bomb”, al Qaeda”, “terrorist”; however the list contains some more unlikely additions, like: “pork, “cloud”, “team” and “Mexico”.
As well as monitoring potential terrorist threats government agencies are also trying to find criminals, and identify health risks.
The Department of Homeland Security was forced to publish the list after a freedom of information request. So if you don’t want the government spying on you below is the words not to use online:
Internet hackers have hacked into the US Chamber of Commerce computer systems. The attack appears to have been undetected for more than a year, and targeted four individuals computers who held sensitive information concerning trade in Asia.
Such attacks are not uncommon apparently. China has been found responsible for hacking governmental, military and industry targets in the past. America’s cyber security systems are proving inadequate to cope in this new era of cyberwarfare. However, the US military are taking the threat very seriously and are recruiting 10,000 “cyber warriors” to help defend America and her interests.
Prophet TV broadcast from the roof of the US Chamber of Commerce during the DC intercession covering the Dalai Lama’s trip to Washington DC. Support Prophet TV to enable these missions on a regular basis to sustain protection over the city.
